All About Camera Angles (page 2)

Lens focal length is the angle of view and subject magnification delivered by each setting, from wide angle through telephoto. From any one position, a wide-angle lens encompasses a broad field of view full of small subjects and a telephoto shows a narrow angle with far larger subjects. A normal setting approximates the characteristics of the human eye.

Because focal lengths are usually positions on a continuously variable zoom lens, the spectrum here is the subtlest of all. In fact, the gradation is so continuous that who's to say exactly when a wide-angle lens becomes a normal lens or when a normal lens morphs into a telephoto lens?

As usual, "normal" lens settings are unobtrusive because their images look like what we see in real life. So let's get right to the world of wide-angle and telephoto lenses.

As you know, wide-angle lenses seem to exaggerate depth, so that subjects in the rear are smaller than they would be in normal perspective. For the same reason, those subjects grow rapidly as they approach the camera, making them seem to move faster. Everything about wide angle shouts speed, power and excitement.

Telephoto lenses reduce apparent depth. This effect is great for camera tricks. Miniatures in the foreground can be aligned with distant scenery so they look full-size. Cars speeding across the screen can "just barely miss" cars headed at them toward the camera, because the very long lens reduces the apparent distance between the two, concealing the fact that there was really a big, safe gap between them.

Camera level is another factor that can carry a big emotional load. Normally, cameras are kept carefully level, so that horizontal lines and horizons are parallel to the top and bottom of the frame. But artists have known for centuries that horizontal lines feel static and vertical lines are almost as quiet. Diagonals, by contrast, feel active and dynamic because, psychologically, tilted objects won't stay put; they're falling over. Seen in real life, the Tower of Pisa is one very scary building!

To capitalize on this psychological effect, you can purposely set the camera off level, automatically turning every horizontal or vertical line into a dynamic diagonal. Also, because "falling" is an unsettling experience, off-level setups can add a subtly queasy, creepy feeling to a shot. Notice how often directors tend to use these creepy angles in horror flicks.

Off-level setups are called "Dutch" angles because they were popularized by German (Deutsch) directors imported to Hollywood in the 1920s.

Once out of fashion, Dutch angles are now all over commercials and music videos, just to jazz everything up a bit. That's too bad, because any technique loses its punch when it's used to death.

Emotionally, long lenses often convey formality and a certain detachment. They keep us distant from the action even as they magnify it. Paradoxically, long lenses also convey suspense, as when the rescuing hero runs desparately toward the lens, and runs and runs and runs without seeming to get any closer.

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